If 2 plus 2 equals 4 and 2x2 equals 4 are addition and multiplication the same?

Answer 1

Well, you found one case where the answers are the same. That's probably not enough to

formulate a law of mathematics. You ought to at least try and find one or two more cases.

If you can find a couple more examples, then we can examine the new law you suggested.

If you can't find another one, then you haven't a leg to stand on.

Even more important . . . If we can find a pair of numbers whose sum and product are not

equal, then you might as well forget about it.

Like 2 and 3.

2 + 3 = 5, but 2 x 3 = 6. Honk! Not equal! The buzzer says forget about it.

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Surprise, surprise! We just spent a few more minutes playing with this, and found a whole

series of pairs of numbers for which it does work.

For any two numbers (a, b) such that b=a/(a-1), you'll get (a+b) = ab .

Examples: 3 and 1.5, 4 and 4/3, 5 and 5/4, 50 and 50/49 .

But that doesn't say that addition is the same as multiplication. It says that it's possible

to find pairs of numbers whose sum is the same as their product, but if the numbers are

not one of the special pairs, then their sum and product are not equal.